By TONEY ATKINS
Warfarin, a blood-thinning clot-fighter, is designed to be a life-saver, but I’m concerned that it almost has been the death of me or, if nothing else, has wreaked havoc on my body and brain.
Little did I know that almost exactly two years ago, when I took quite a fall onto concrete and gravel after missing a shaded doorstep, the prescribed medicine (an ingredient of which the early use included rat poison) would be affecting me, physically and psychologically.
Regardless of what some people may believe, I am not a rat and I'm certain that warfarin was not given to me to thin my blood to the point of hemorrhaging to death. But I digress.
A week after the July 2010 tumble, a painfully swollen foot sent me hobbling to the emergency room, where a blood clot was discovered in my leg. After at least seven days of self-injections in the stomach area of shots valued at about $1,000, warfarin became my cross to bear for at least two years.
For those not familiar with warfarin (a generic of Coumadin), it is a pill that thins the blood to prevent clots from forming and helps to dissolve blood clots that have already formed. The purpose is to prevent clots from going to the lungs, heart and brain, avoiding heart attacks or strokes.
The patient has to be monitored by blood work at a doctor’s office or in a hospital because the warfarin levels in the blood have to be maintained at a specific level. This may mean a change in prescribed dosages from month to month, and the individual must observe eating guidelines and definitely avoid certain green vegetables and anything containing Vitamin K. Alcoholic beverages are frowned upon, and warfarin can interact with other medications.
All this became a very frightening reality to me about two weeks ago, when I could have bled out and died if I had suffered a serious cut or even if I suddenly developed internal bleeding from an ulcer or such.
Several months ago, my prescribed dosage had been increased to 5 mg. per day. After a recent blood test, it was increased to 5.5 mg. Another test indicated I should take the warfarin once a day for five days and not take it on weekends. Later, I received another phone call from my physician’s nurse saying I should return to the daily dose.
Those boring details take me to the blood check of nearly two weeks ago. I hadn’t felt truly well for some time, but I attributed that to the natural aging process since I had not changed any habits.
After the lab technician took my blood, we both noticed that where the needle had been inserted bled longer than usual but finally stopped. The blood sample was later sent to an outside lab for analysis. That was on a Tuesday afternoon.
I heard nothing from the doctor’s office on Wednesday and assumed all was okay, except for several bruises on my arm. Thursday morning, however, I received a call from the office of the complex in which I live, telling me that it was “very important” that I call my doctor immediately.
After finally being connected to the proper source, I was told that I “urgently” needed to go to the local hospital emergency room, because the test results showed that my blood was about five times thinner than it should be, or in the technician’s word, “critical.”
Needless to say, I nearly freaked out. I opened a can of turnip greens and a can of cabbage and nuked the Vitamin K-containing vegetables in the microwave. I devoured the food as I contemplated the possibilities before calling 911. After all, the test was done two days earlier. A few more minutes before calling an ambulance wouldn’t kill me – I hoped.
During my nearly six-hour visit to the ER, blood work was done, I received an injection of Vitamin K, and an ultrasound was performed to determine whether I had any blood clots. Fortunately, I was clot-free. Possibly because of my vegetable “breakfast,” my warfarin level was down, but far from being where it should be.
The doctor, who I consider to be very efficient, ordered me not to take any more warfarin until I came back to the hospital the following Monday for another blood test in the lab there. (My luck was staying true to form: My insurance would not cover the test and the cost was about $75.)
What I had thought was real drama was only beginning.
The following day, I called my physician’s office for the results of the blood work. The hospital staff had assured me those results would be sent Monday evening, but the report was nowhere to be found Tuesday afternoon at my doctor’s facility. At the nurse's request, I detailed the visit to the emergency room Thursday, what the doctor there had determined and what I was instructed to do.
The nurse apparently contacted the hospital, had a copy of the report resent and had consulted my doctor. She called me back and said my warfarin level was essentially normal and that I should resume taking the medication at double the amount of blood-thinner – 10.5 mg or 11 mg, I don’t recall exactly.
I literally shouted into the telephone: “What are you trying to do? Kill me?” Somehow, I refrained from using the expletives that were swirling in my mind.
I repeated to her that I had been taking 5.5 mg of the blood=thinner once a day for a couple of months. The prescription that she was about to call in to my pharmacist would be twice as strong, thereby making my blood twice as thin as it was when I was when ordered to go to the hospital. I was more than a little frustrated, upset and frightened about what the pills could have done to my body.
The nurse said she would talk to the doctor again and call me back. Minutes later, she called and revised the dosage down to 2.5 mg per day, which was far more reasonable to me.
Two days later, after I attempted to resume my routine, my hearing was more out of whack than usual and, even scarier, my eyesight was dim, blurry and adversely reacting to light to the extent that I could see a little inside my apartment and even less while wearing my eyeglasses and sunglasses outside. I am also having mild hallucinations in the corner of my left eye.
I have written this while wearing sunglasses because the computer screen is too bright and the print is virtually obscure, so please pardon any dramatic errors. The television screen is also hard to watch.
This major vision problem just started Thursday night. The eyesight is a little better this morning (early Monday), thank God, but I am definitely contacting a physician in case there have been serious developments that may possibly have been caused by the unintentional but prescribed overdose of warfarin. I still don’t feel normal, whatever normal is.
I share this experience because I know of other people who have to take warfarin to prevent blood clots. I urge anyone who, out of necessity, have to take this medication to be tested as per a doctor’s instructions and make sure the prescribed dosage is taken, because there can be numerous effects not outlined here.
Also, do not be afraid to question the amount of the dosage if you feel that it is unreasonable.
Several mistakes sent me to the hospital, and I do not want anyone to have to deal with the possible physical damage and the accompanying, sometimes underlying fear and concern about over dosage or even under-dosing.
My story’s ending remains uncertain. Make sure yours or a friend’s or loved one's is a happy one.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION (from http://www.ehow.com/about_6524045_rat-poison-coumadin.html ):
Warfarin was developed from spoiled sweet clover hay. It was known that in some cases spoiled hay lead to livestock deaths due to hemorrhaging. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin attempted to breed a sweet clover plant that would not cause bleeding in livestock that consumed any spoiled feed made from the plant. This research isolated dicoumarol that was patented as an anti-coagulant in 1941. It was refined and synthesized as warfarin in 1948.
Warfarin was initially used as a rodenticide and rapidly became the most widely used rodent poison in the world. According to the Institute of Traditional Medicine, a 1951 attempted suicide incident where an individual consumed a large dose of warfarin but recovered lead to research concerning the use of warfarin in humans. The first human uses of warfarin, called Coumadin when used in humans, were in 1954 when President Dwight Eisenhower was treated with it after a 1955 heart attack.
Warfarin disrupts the action of vitamin K, a substance that promotes blood clotting, as it works in the body. It also disrupts a number of proteins produced by the liver that also play a part in blood clotting. In rodents this lack of blood clotting causes fatal internal hemorrhaging. In humans, with controlled doses and blood testing, the reduction in the blood clotting function reduces the possibility of some medical conditions.Read more: Rat Poison & Coumadin | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6524045_rat-poison-coumadin.html#ixzz1y7Sfz36F
